November 12, 2010

Wheat, Rye and Barley are to the Gluten Intolerant what Kryptonite is to Superman. (Don’t you just love analogies?). If I didn’t know better, I’d think this bread was on the Naughty List. But, just because it tastes like Rye Bread, doesn’t mean it is Rye Bread.

This is really my Mock Wheat Bread masquerading as Rye. A double-masquerade, if you will.

Fortunately, this is easy to make, because it will be gone in no time. My kids have managed to devour half a loaf in under 24 hours. Even the non-gluten-intolerant Spawn finds this bread irresistable. I would recommend doubling the recipe below if you know what’s good for you. I am baking another loaf as we speak.

Unlike most of my posts, I won’t be step-by-stepping this one with photos. If you would prefer that kind of guidance (or just enjoy looking at photos of mixers and flour or other raw food goods), hop on over to my Mock Wheat Bread post, and just remember to add the Caraway seeds in with the dry ingredients. Otherwise, the recipe is identical.

October 24, 2010

For a quick bread, this is pretty low fat. The original recipe comes from a King Arthur Flour Cook Book that’s been in my pantry for years. I’ve used low fat Buttermilk in place of full fat Sour Cream which insures the bread remains moist despite only 1/3 cup oil in the batter.

I was going to make Pumpkin Bread again, but these bananas were calling out to me.

They look much worse that they are because we store our bananas in the refrigerator. Some people say that’s a no-no, but I find that as soon as the bananas reach the perfect ripeness – which in and of itself a contentious matter at my house (just a touch of green left according to me but spotted with brown according to my husband) – placing them in the refrigerator will cause them to stop ripening, so you can enjoy the perfect texture and ripeness you like for at least a few days. Oh, they won’t look very good, since the outside will begin to brown despite refrigeration, but the interior will still be perfect days later. Try it.

Unlike with most of my baking, I decided to include the walnuts my children detest since I just can’t fathom Banana Bread any other way! Spawn #1 still ate it, but he picked the nuts out of his slice. Crazy Boy!

Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in center of the bread comes out clean.

Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Slice and serve spread with butter or whipped cream cheese!

Sure, to you that may seem to defeat the purpose of the lowfat bread but in my view, making a lower fat version of anything is the perfect excuse to compensate with the toppings! For example: At Starbucks, I always order a Venti Decaf Nonfat Cafe Mocha topped with Whipped Cream! Come to think of it, that would be a very tasty accompaniment to a slice of this bread!

Oh..and while your enjoying that little slice of Banana Nut Heaven, would you mind chiming in and telling me…who’s right about the Bananas? Me? Or my husband? When do YOU think they are the perfect ripeness?

“I did alter the spices in the recipe, since it calls for not just Cinnamon and Nutmeg (which are also used to flavor my traditional Pumpkin Bread) but also Ginger, Cloves and Molasses.”

But my traditional Pumpkin Bread recipe does NOT have Cinnamon in it! I had remembered it wrong, and when I set out to convert that original Pumpkin Bread recipe to gluten-free today, I realized my error.

Will you ever forgive me?

Instead of Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Molasses, this bread is flavored with Nutmeg and Vanilla only. It’s a quite a bit different flavor (the gingerbread-iness isn’t there) and now that I have sucessfully converted this recipe, dare I say it’s even better tasting than the muffins! In fact, after conversion, there is no discernable difference between this bread and the traditional gluten-filled recipe that my younger son often begged for. I just love when that happens!

He wouldn’t even let me finish photographing this bread before he nabbed a second slice!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1/2 cup Canola Oil

1 1/3 cup Sugar

2 large Eggs

1 cup Pumpkin (I used canned Libby’s again)

1/3 cup Water

1 2/3 cups Brown Rice Flour Mix* (you can use All-Purpose Flour if you are a gluten-eater)

September 20, 2010

While I do take pride in making some pretty darn good glutenless baked goods (if I do say so myself), it’s truly rare that a gluten free bread is SO tasty that even I can’t walk away from it before scarfing down multiple slices! The original recipe for this French-Italian loaf comes from my favorite (so far!) Gluten Free Cookbook: Annalise Robert’s Gluten Free Baking Classics. I’ve amped it up by adding Rosemary and Sea Salt into the mix, and the result is nothing short of addictive!

It’s a pretty simple mix, based on Millet and Sorghum flours and a few starches. I make the mix ahead and store it in a labeled ziploc freezer bag, with the proportions written right on the bag so that I don’t have to look up the recipe each time I need to replenish my supply.

I measure the flours right into the bag and whisk together. If you have a sensitivity to corn, you can just increase one or both of the other starches to compensate, with like results.

The Millet Flour gives the bread a slightly nutty taste. It’s not as fluffy a bread as a gluten-containing version may be, but it’s got great texture nonetheless and even more importantly, it has a fabulously crunchy crust! You won’t be able to keep your hands off it!

Let’s get cooking.

The recipe below is doubled, so you’ll get two nice long loaves with these proportions.

You’ll need:

4 Cups Bread Flour Mix A (See photo above)

2 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum

1 3/4 tsp Salt

8 tsp Sugar

2 pkgs Instant Dry Yeast (NOT quick rise)

4 tsp Olive Oil

2 Cups Water, heated to 110 degrees

2 heaping Tbsp Dried Rosemary

Non-stick Cooking Spray (be sure it’s gluten-free!)

What to do:

Spray French Bread Pan with non-stick cooking spray. The pan is not optional! Gluten-free doughs spread quite a bit while rising and you really need the structure the pan provides. I found my French Bread Pan really inexpensively on Amazon. I also got my Italian Bread Pan at the same place. You can pick up Annalise Robert’s cookbook there as well and if you spend $25, they often have free shipping.

You’re supposed to also lightly dust the pan with rice flour. I forgot this step and panicked the whole time this was cooking, but it slid effortlessly off of the pan anyway. Whew! Don’t be a rebel like me, though – follow the instructions!

Place all dry ingredients (except Rosemary) into a large mixing bowl.

Combine well using whisk or beater attachment of mixer.

Add Water (110 degrees) and Oil.

Mix until just combined, then scrape down bowl with spatula.

Mix on high speed for 3 minutes.

Add Rosemary by crumbling into bowl between fingers.

Mix on high for one more minute,then spoon into pan into two long loaf shapes.

Wet a spatula with warm water.

Use spatula to smooth the surface of the dough in the pan.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just perfectly imperfect!

Let rise for 30-40 minutes until about doubled in size. I use an overturned Rubbermaid container as a “Proofer”.

Pretty clever, huh?

Preheat oven to 400 degrees while bread is rising.

Five minutes before placing dough into oven, place a pan filled about 1″ with water onto bottom rack of oven.

And don’t you dare even start with how dirty my oven is!! I’ve been much too busy working and cooking and scrapbooking and blogging – emphasis on working – to do anything about it!!!

Sprinkle surface of dough with lightly ground sea salt and then coat lightly with non-stick spray.

Bake on middle rack in oven for 40 minutes, then remove bread from pans and place loaves directly on middle rack for another 5 – 10 minutes to crisp up the bottom crust.

August 25, 2010

The sun came out, the birds started singing and I just about fell flat over when I tasted this amazing bread!

Admittedly, it’s been a while since my son actually ate wheat bread, but he insisted this tastes just like he remembers. I took a bite myself and sure enough, it has that almost nutty flavor that you get with a wheat-based loaf. I had tried a mock wheat bread recipe a long while ago, but although it tasted pretty good, the bread was a flop, quite literally.

This time, I used my regular Gluten Free Sandwich Bread recipe and then tweaked the flour mixtures to include a little bit of Teff, which was one of the flours in that wheaty-tasting but badly formed loaf I’d tried previously.

I just love it when my experiments work out!

Look! No sinking!

Cuting into it and suprisingly, it actually looks like REAL bread! Just look at those air bubbles!

To make this – and trust me, you really want to make this – you’ll need:

August 16, 2010

This is a variation of my Flexible, Foldable, Gluten Free Flatbread post. But that wasn’t a step-by-step recipe AND that was only the basic version. It’s time to go all Gourmet with it now! This variation was inspired by my favorite Bagels from Trader Joes. They are NOT Gluten-Free and are called “Everything” bagels and are topped with poppy seeds and garlic, among other things. I absolutely LOVE sandwiches made on those bagels, but my poor GF son was missing out. Thus, this recipe was born.

You might use Rosemary and Sea Salt, Garlic and Parmesan, whatever. The world is your oyster.

Sprinkle the surface with your desired toppings.

Cover (I use a Rubbermaid storage container turned upside down over pan as a “proofer”) and let rise for 35-40 minutes.

While waiting for dough to rise, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Your dough will puff up and it may appear to be an uneven thickness. Don’t fret, that’s okay!

Bake for 11-15 minutes (mine is usually ready at 12 minutes) or until the top is lightly browned.

Remove from pan, with parchment to acooling rack.

Remove parchment as soon as you can by rolling it up underneath the dough.

Keep rolling.

And that’s how I roll. Or, unroll in this case.

Once cooled, you can cut dough into desired-sized pieces.

Both my boys love this bread and usually, while it’s still cooling, they’ll sneak off a corner or two of the rectangle, making it difficult for me to cut into nice neat pieces!

I usually quarter the pan, by cutting with scissors in half and then in half again.

Now, make a sandwich! You know you want to!

If you have any bread left (and I usually do, only because I double the recipe), you can store it in the refrigerator or freezer. If you freeze it, be sure to separate the slices with waxed paper or parchment for easy removal.

July 22, 2010

I’ve been trying to think of somthing new to do with all this Zucchini that is overtaking my kitchen. We have made my Zucchini Au Gratin a few times over the past week, and although it IS tasty, we are ready for something new. I gave away a big bag of Zucchini to a friend today, but I still have more than I can ever hope to use. So, for the first time since going Gluten-Free, I tried Zucchini Bread.

This recipe comes from The Gluten Free Homemaker. I always have some trepidation when trying a new recipe, as I am not fond of failure. Who is, right? And when these loaves came out of the oven, I wasn’t quite sure how they’d be, because they seemed a little on the “short” side. But I need not have worried. Once I let the loaves cool a while, cut off a slice, slathered one of them in butter and took my first bite, I was pleasantly surprised. This is without a doubt, one of the best Zucchini Breads I’ve tasted. It’s not super moist, but the crumb is just right and the crust has a caramelized quality that is enticing.

You can also add 1 cup of nuts, if you want this to be even better. I, unfortunately, have to bend to the taste of my children whom prefer that I make my quick breads without nuts. It’s a woeful life that I lead.

The only change I made to the recipe (besides the omission of the nuts) was to add an extra teaspoon of vanilla, because in my book, you can never go wrong with extra vanilla!

I used my twenty-some year old food processor/blender attachment, which incidentally works much better than the new, and soon to be returned to Costo, Cuisinart Mini Food Processor my husband just bought me.

This is the texture you are going for. You don’t want it wet, just grated. A box type grater on the large side should work fine.

Measure out 2 cups (packed) of the Zucchini and set aside. You can freeze any leftover for making this bread during the off-season.

Measure all dry ingredients into a medium bowl, then whisk together until combined.

Place all wet ingredients, except Zucchini, into a large mixing bowl.

Blend until well-combined.

Add Zucchini, then gradually add dry ingredients until just combined.

Batter will be thick and heavy.

Add nuts now if you are not as swayed by your picky children as I am.

Divide into prepared pans.

Bake for 45- 50 minutes (45 minutes was the time that I pulled mine out) or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes in pan, then loosen with knife and remove to a wire rack.

Let cool 10-15 minutes more before slicing and serving.

Be sure to spread a bit (or more than a bit!) of butter on your slice! Enjoy!

I made these again tonight and asked my son, after he ate one of these muffins warm from the oven, what I should name this post. He came up with the “So Berry Delicious” thing. I guess that is endorsement enough! These muffins rival any gluten-filled blueberry muffins out there. It took all my willpower not to fire up a pot of coffee to go with one of these babies tonight! Though no easy task, I’m forcing myself to at least wait until breakfast tomorrow!

As I post this photo, I have to admit that I’m reconsidering the “waiting until breakfast tomorrow” thing.

Whilst I struggle with my self-control, let me tell you how to make this.

Before I do though, this recipe is not my own. This is from “Gluten Free Baking Classics” by Annalise Roberts, which is (as I’ve said before) the only Gluten Free cookbook I’ve ever purchased. Her recipes are amazing! Although I haven’t made more than a few recipes from this book, they’ve never failed me. Each one proves to be more than I could hope for and each one rivals any traditional gluten-filled recipe of it’s kind.

Bake for 18-25 minutes (It was about 22 minutes when I pulled mine out).

Cool for about 5 minutes in pan, then remove to wire rack. I used a soup spoon to gently lift each muffin from the pan onto the rack. There was minimal breakage this way. Watch out for the hot blueberries though…they are not pleasant to have come into contact with your bare flesh!

Let cool a bit before serving.

Oh, boy. There I go again with the photo of oozing blueberry goodness.

July 19, 2010

Update 11/18/2011 – Here is a message I received from my good friend Julie about making this crust right on a sandstone:

“I made the delicious pizza crust the other day, and I wanted to post that I had no problems making it directly on my sandstone. This is a well-seasoned sandstone, and I drizzled olive oil on it, rubbed it, then sprinkled a generous amount of corn meal on it, and I didn’t even need a spatula to lift off the pieces! it was a beautiful thing! And I have a really big sandstone, so I got to make one XL pizza…yum! Thanks so much for this amazing crust recipe!!! ♥ ♥ ♥”

Glad the recipe worked for you, Julie!

This pizza dough recipe is adapted from Annalise Robert’s Focaccia Bread recipe from her cookbook “Gluten Free Baking Classics”. This is the only Gluten Free Cookbook I have ever purchased so far and it is well worth the $13. Although it doesn’t have pictures, which is a big deterrent for me with cookbooks, it does contain awesome no-fail recipes for things like Blueberry Muffins and Chocolate Fudge Cake. She actually does have a pizza crust recipe in the book, but I’ve never tried it since I’m a firm believer in the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy and I already love this crust just the way I’ve been making it!

You’ll need:

Cooking Spray

Cornmeal (for dusting pans)

1Cup Millet Flour

1/2 Cup Sorghum Flour

1/2 Cup Cornstarch

1/2 Cup Tapioca Starch

1/2 Cup Potato Starch

(Note: The last time I made this, I omitted the Potato starch and used 1 cup Tapioca starch and the result was just as good as the original recipe)

Add Water and Olive Oil and mix for one minute. Then, scrape down sides of bowl.

Beat on high speed for two minutes. When finished, dough will resemble thick cake batter.

Fill a large glass with hot water, and dip a metal spatula in. This is going to be a BIG help to you in spreading the batter on the pans.

Divide dough between the two pans.

And, using the wettened spatula, spread the dough out to the edges of the pan. Just pretend you are frosting a cake with really thick frosting! You may need to clean and re-wet the spatula from time to time.

When you are done, it should look like this. You can leave a little “ridge” on the edges which will help hold your toppings on.

Now, let rise for one hour. I use an upside-down rubbermaid container as a “proofer” for my GF baking. It works great!

The cover keeps the dough from drying out while rising, but doesn’t disturb the surface of the dough like plastic wrap would.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

(I also place baking stones in the oven to place the pans directly on. This helps to crisp up the crust bottom. Because of the consistency of the Gluten-free dough, you can’t bake directly on the stone. However, if you want to go to the trouble, you can “finish” the pizza directly on the stone for the last few minutes of baking time by removing the whole pizza from the pan and sliding onto the stone. I usually don’t bother with this step.)

Pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and spread a light coating of olive oil over the crust, avoiding the edges. Then, top with sauce, cheese and desired vegetables or other toppings.

June 13, 2010

This is my son’s favorite bread and his younger (gluten tolerant) brother even loves it, too! It’s soft and fluffy and great for folded sandwiches. Try this bread topped with poppy, sesame, or caraway seeds, dried onion or garlic, or all of the above!

Line a 9 x 13 Jelly Roll pan with parchment and lightly dust with rice flour, set aside.

Mix together the following with a whisk and set aside:

1 cup fine brown rice flour

½ cup tapioca starch

2 Tbsp Sugar

2 tsp Xanthan Gum

1 Tbsp Instant Yeast Granules (or 1 pkg active dry yeast)

1/2 tsp Salt

In bowl of mixer, combine the following:

¾ cup Water – 110 degrees Farenheit

1 tsp Cider Vinegar

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Eggs

Once wet ingredients are combined, slowly add dry ingredients until mixed. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat on medium/high for 4 minutes.

Scrape dough onto parchment lined pan and spread to cover almost to edges with a wet spatula (the rectangular-shaped scrapers work really well) Be sure to keep wetting your spatula so dough doesn’t stick. Once fairly smooth, poke indentations all over with a fork. Cover (I use a Rubbermaid storage container turned upside down over pan as a “proofer”) and let rise for 35-40 minutes. If seeds or other toppings are desired, add them before covering for the rise time.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 11-15 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned. Remove from pan, with parchment to cooling racks. Remove parchment as soon as you can by rolling it up underneath the dough. Once fully cooled, you can cut dough into desired-sized pieces.

Refrigerate leftovers or this can be frozen (place waxed paper between slices for easy removal).